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Dairy product and processDairy product and process description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20080317928, Dairy product and process. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to stable milk products having a pH below 4.6 and methods of making the same. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThe most popular carbonated beverages typically have an acidity, or pH, of between 3.0 and 4.0 to give the consumer a pleasurable level of astringency. pH levels less than 3.0 in beverages are considered by many as being excessively astringent and not preferred. Carbon dioxide is added to the beverage to a pressure corresponding to at least 1.5 volumes gas per volume of beverage to give the consumer the required effervescence that is enjoyable in the mouth. These beverage products are widely known as carbonated beverages. It is increasingly desirable to fortify carbonated beverages with protein to provide a drink with a more balanced nutrition. Milk protein is recognised widely as offering good nutrition. Milk protein, particularly casein, added directly to the carbonated beverage, is unstable in the pH 3-4 range and tends to precipitate or sediment to the bottom of the vessel because the pH is close to the isoelectric point of the casein. Sediment is not appealing to the consumer and can result in the wastage of valuable protein. The stability of casein, and therefore milk protein, in a carbonated beverage depends on the interaction of many factors. The art does not offer much guidance of what will work and what will yield a carbonated beverage fortified with milk that will be enjoyed by consumers. A feature of the large-scale manufacture of carbonated beverages is that plants are often run as franchised businesses that are not equipped with milk handling and processing facilities. The handling and processing of most milk or dairy streams would result in significant investment to a carbonated beverage bottler. The hygiene risk to a carbonated beverage bottler would be considerable because they are not generally experienced in handling stocks that are as perishable such as milk. The art teaches various methods of attempting to overcome the problems of preparing successful carbonated beverages that contain various amounts of milk, or milk protein. Ahmed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,552 and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,919,960 suggests that heating the milk or beverage prior to bottling and carbonation will result in a stable carbonated milk beverage. Pasteurisation is claimed to be sufficient. There is no teaching of the initial preparation of a stable concentrate. Ino et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,052) teaches a milk-sugar solution acidified to pH 3.5-3.7 and heated to 60° C. for 20 minutes that is stable. Yasumatsu (U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,019) teaches that a stable carbonated milk beverage may be prepared by treating an acidified milk+sugar syrup with an extensive heat treatment of 125-160° C. for a period depending on the selected temperature. Another approach, reported to give stability to a carbonated milk beverage, is revealed by Efstathiou, Dechaine & Zoss (U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,988). In this process ion exchange is used to remove anions and cations from the milk. Another method to stabilise carbonated milk beverages is to use a suitable hydrocolloid or polysaccharide such as pectin or carageenan (Rimmler & Sas, DE 19,735,385; Mahmoud, NL 7,809,568; Lam & Petitfour, EP 1,150,573; Kelly, GB2398473). A further approach is to replace a proportion of the problematic casein with soluble proteins such as whey proteins (Scibelli, U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,662). An alternative approach is to overcome sedimentation of insoluble material by dispersing the particles sufficiently finely that they resist settling (Yang, U.S. Pat. No. 5,648,112). Another process is to ferment the milk to produce a drinking yoghurt which can be combined with juices or fruit pulp and subsequently carbonated (Meiji Milk Products, JP 1,022,861; Hao, CN 1,061,512; Evers, EP0117011). Clark & Clark teach of a carbonated milk beverage fortified with various nutrients (U.S. Pat. No. 6,403,129). However, this is a near neutral product that does not encounter the problems faced by the acidity typical of carbonated beverages even though a pH range of about 4.0 to about 7.0 is claimed. This process also teaches of preparing a dried mixture of the ingredients, which may be subsequently reconstituted with water, carbonated and packed. It does not teach of a means of preparing a stable liquid concentrate suitable for storage and shipment and does not teach how to obtain a good flavoured carbonated beverage in the desired pH range 3.0-4.0. In applications US 200201 14872 and US 20020182296 Kaplan claims a process to prepare a UHT treated carbonated milk beverage. A pH range between 3.8 and 5.7 is claimed although no measures to deal with protein instability are acknowledged. In GB1480902, it is noted that a carbonated beverage containing as little as 4-12% w/w milk (0.12-0.4% protein) yields a ‘stable frothy head’. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to produce a stable milk product containing a casein source at a pH range below the isoelectric point of casein and/or to provide the public with a useful choice. DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTIONIn a first aspect, the invention comprises a method of making a milk product, the method comprising:
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